We’re all looking to up our videoconferencing game these days, and now a new Mac-exclusive webcam claims to be the “first professional webcam.” What does that mean? Well, Opal’s C1 webcam aims to be a DSLR-like camera that attaches to your Mac and attempts to transform your pitiful built-in webcam into something far more powerful.
As reported by Tom’s Hardware, the Opal C1 has some pretty spectacular specs to back up those claims.
The C1 houses a mirrorless, 7.8mm 4K Sony sensor that sports a 78-degree field of view and hits 60 frames per second. That checks all the boxes for a high-end camera, and it is notably cheaper than connecting a regular DSLR to your computer.
For sound, the Opal C1 has a multidirectional MicMesh that takes up over half the the webcam. Opal is promising noise-cancellation, so in theory, the mic will deliver crisp and isolated sound that blocks out background noise.
All of that fits into a relatively compact package. The Opal C1 measures 1.97 x 3.07 x 1.81 inches. That is pretty bulky for a typical webcam, but about half the size of a traditional DSLR.
For internal specs, the C1 houses the Opal Trillium microchip and Intel’s latest 14-nanometer VPU chip. The Trillium microchip can perform “4 trillion operations per second” according to Opal, and combined with the Intel processor, it should have some impressive computational power.
How necessary that will be is debatable, though, since most videoconference and streaming services compress video anyway.
The C1 will launch with Opal’s custom app, which works exclusively with Mac. That makes sense since some of Opal’s founding members are former Apple employees. The app allows you to apply a variety of filters and adjustments to video and audio, including a Bokeh mode that artificially blurs the background, making it easier to focus on you.
Windows users won’t necessarily miss out, though. The Opal C1 is still compatible with third-party software.
You can’t buy the Opal C1 just yet. It’s currently in a private, invite-only beta stage. You can, however, add your name to a reservation list to buy a beta model when it releases.
At $300, the Opal C1 is notably more expensive than some of the other best webcams you can buy, but we will have to wait and see if it is worth it.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.